Bob Iger spent more than 15 years as Disney’s chief executive officer the first time around. But he doesn’t intend to stay anywhere near that long in his second stint at the position.
In an appearance on Kelly Ripa’s podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera, Iger said that he is working hard on finding his replacement, and it is something he is thinking “all the time”.
“I think it would be safe to assume that I think about [CEO succession] all the time,” Iger shared. “I could say that, ‘I’m obsessed with it’ would be probably an understatement and actually, the board and I established when I returned that that would be among our biggest, if not our biggest priority.”
Iger initially served as Disney’s CEO between 2005 and 2020 before making way for Bob Chapek, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. However, Chapek only stayed in the position for two years before the company decided to replace him due to underwhelming results.
Iger once again became Disney’s CEO in 2022, initially accepting the role for two years, during which he was supposed to keep the company steady and help find a new successor. But his second spell will end up lasting longer than planned as he extended his contract last year until 2026.
“It was not my intention to be pulled back in,” Iger explained his return. “I owed it to the company that meant so much to me and had been so good to me to answer the call.”